Cross the Ditch 21: Summer 2021

In Australasia December means a return to the long hot days of summer, as folk everywhere flock to the beach, the bach, or the barbecue.

On VATSIM for more than a decade the first weekend of December has meant only one thing: time to take to the skies of the South Pacific and...

Cross the Ditch!

Check out the official Cross the Ditch website

Apply to provide ATC

Book your Flights now!

View the Event Schedule

Check out the Virtual Airline Leaderboard

Grab the recommended add-on scenery for each of the event airports

What's it all about?

For twenty hours this December, the skies over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand will be filled with aircraft all on a mission to Cross the Ditch.

An example of that typical down-under understatement, this "ditch" is over 1100nm wide. The flight routes all range from three to five hours flight time.

Throughout the event, Oceania's two divisions – VATNZ and VATPAC – will be providing full ATC coverage, in the Southern Hemisphere's premiere oceanic event.

This is a great opportunity to experience Oceanic flying without the need to commit to an eight-hour flight!

If you're new to Oceanic Flying, our reporting tool makes taking part a breeze.

Event Times

This twenty hour event is timed to allow pilots from all over the world join the fun:

• UTC: Saturday 4th December 2021 17:00 - Sunday 5th December 2021 13:00
• AEDT: Sunday 5th December 2021 04:00 - Monday 6th December 2021 00:00
• NZDT: Sunday 5th December 2021 06:00 - Monday 6th December 2021 02:00

Waves

This season's event is organised in waves. Each airport will have a three-to-four-and-a-half hour departure window, during which time flights will be able to leave for the next destination. As the window closes, the departure window will open at the next destination.

Given each of the flights is 3 - 4.5hrs in length, the previous wave's flights will be arriving at the same airport as the next wave departs, maximising the amount of traffic at each airport.

NOTE: in order to ensure that you have ATC coverage throughout your flight, you MUST fly the wave route that is active at the time of your departure.

The individual routes are designed to ensure as much opposing traffic enroute as possible.

Each flight passes from one Oceania division to the other, and the result is six mini-flyins over the course of twenty hours!

The Waves for Cross the Ditch 21 - Summer 2021 are:

Calling all Pilots and Controllers

Flight plans are available from the Flight Plans section.

Book your flights now from the Flight Bookings page. Bookings made on this site help us plan for the event, and will also show up in vroute.

Controllers wanting to get in on the action can also apply now at the event's ATC Applications page.